Akufo-Addo says the Special Prosecutor is coming in October… For Whom?

Folks, informed Ghanaians know that Akufo-Addo’s talk of creating an Office of a Special Prosecutor to stop corruption in Ghana is a hoax.

Already, all that bombastic wishful thinking is mired in controversy and many others to create the negative impression that Akufo-Addo is not sure what he is about as far as the fight against corruption is concerned. It is all about political victimization, which explains why the administration is saying that the prosecution of NDC functionaries under the Mahama-led administration will start in October without any regard for the instances of corruption that have already occurred under Akufo-Addo’s 8 months in office.

Is the eradication of corruption in Ghana only aimed at political opponents? Such a weak start won’t help Akufo-Addo.

He has already been condemned for his “tortoise-pace” to the issue. His rush to name a partner in his law chambers (Akot Ampaw) as the Special prosecutor when the legal platform for establishing that office hasn’t even been laid raises eyebrows all the more.

Then, the gross ineptitude displayed by his government in drafting the bill on the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor that the NDC Minority deftly shot down in Parliament that led to the face-saving withdrawal of that bill says it all that Akufo-Addo is leaping without first stopping and looking.

We have heard all kinds of noises from many quarters, including the United States Embassy in Ghana, urging that the Office of the Special prosecutor be established to tackle corruption in Ghana (As if the US is immune to corruption in public office to warrant its parading itself as a paragon of human infallibility or greed)!!

Even as we laugh the Akufo-Addo team to scorn on this score, we are reminded of happenings in his own administration that bespeak of massive corruption. Is it the Kenbond scandal that the state institutions are afraid or incapable of handling because they are headed by Akufo-Addo lackeys?

Or is it about the dastardly insider manouevres to collapse the UT Bank and Capital Bank and collapse them into the ambit of the Bank of Ghana that is controlled by Akufo-Addo lackeys?

Or what else?

Interestingly, happenings indicate that all is not well with the Akufo-Addo team itself when it comes to matters of corruption. Instances that have arisen and been quickly swept under the carpet under surreptitious circumstances (such as the bribery case against Agyarko in his search for confirmation as the Energy Minister and many others) stick out.

Now, here is one from their own Kennedy Agyapong, unarguably the most stupid person to have ever entered Ghana’s parliament:

“Professor Ken Attafuah , a criminologist, was appointed by the President as Acting Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, NIA. But allegations that he has awarded a contract worth $150 million to Margins Group has incurred the displeasure of Mr. Agyepong, who questioned the rationale behind the decision, especially when that deal could have been lower.”

He said so in one of his characteristic outbursts, headlined as “I won’t continue to suffer for others to enjoy – Ken Agyapong fires NPP appointees”. (See
https://www.ghanaweb.com/…/I-won-t-continue-to-suffer-for-o…).

What kind of work has he done? And what was the motivation for doing that work as a politician or whatever he assumes to be?
And how will Akufo-Addo factor such sentiments into his agenda for fighting corruption in Ghana without narrowing the field to target only political opponents?

We have already heard from Agyapong that once he financed Akufo-Addo’s campaign to win electoral victory, he must be given juicy contracts to recoup what he had spent and make hay while the sun shines under Akufo-Addo’s watch. How will the fight against corruption under Akufo-Addo deal with such instances and many others that haven’t hit the news-stands?

Without any doubt or malice aforethought, I can infer from what is already happening under Akufo-Addo that the stage is being set for something that will turn Ghana into a laughing stock and prepare the grounds for more acrimonious politics. Doubt it?

I shall return…

By Michael J.K. Bokor, Ph.D.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com

Join me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue the conversation.

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